Process of impregnating fabrics with rubber.



l. S. McGlEHAN.

PROCESS OF 'IMPREGNATING FABRICS WITH RUBBER;

APPLICATION FILED 05c. 17. I915.

1,228,458. Patented June 5, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- II, [I n I'J 'M/tne ssed 3 nvewfz 64a. Mam

|. S. McGIEHAN.

PROCESS OF IMPREGNATING FABRICS WITH RUBBER. APPLICATION FILED DEC. I! 1915.

a SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented J 11110 5, 1917.

I ISAAC S. McG-IEHAN, 01? NEW YORK, R. Y.

PROCESS OF IHPBEGNATING FABRICS WITH RUBBER.

- Specification 01 Letters Patent.

Patented June 5, 1917.

Application filed December 17, 1915. Serial No. 67,473.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC SEAMAN Mc- GIE AN, a citizen of the United States, and residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Process of Impregnating Fabrics with Rubber, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to processes for filling and coating fabrics with rubber; and to a new product which results from the performance of the process.

The process involves the flexing or bending of the fibers of the material, whereby the interstices are opened up in order to enable the rubber solution to find access to and impregnate all the parts of the fabric including the hollow tubular portions of the 20 threads.

The process also involves a first or reliminary drying and a second drying of the fabric, performed after impregnation. The final step of the process is theapplication to the impregnated fibrous materlals of a uniform coating, which, after being laid, is forced into the fabric by rolls having yielding surfaces, in order to compact the mass as much as possible and to cause the rubber solution to fill any' unoccupied spaces remaining at this stage of the process. The apparatus consists of several closely associated mechanisms, all of which e06 erate in the performance of the aforesaid steps of the method.

The first element of the machine, is the drier, over which the fabric passes prior to submergence in the vat containing the rubber solution.

The second element of the machine is the impregnating device, the essential parts of whlch are a vat for the rubber solution and the co-acting fluted rollers and pinions through which the fabric runs and by means of which it is flexed or bent back and forth,

1 m such a way, as to open up the interstices of the fibers for the reception of the rubber solution. The third element of the machine, is a drier containing heating coils arranged in juxta-position to the path of 7 sheet of impregnated fabric.

The fourth element of the machine, is that which coats the impre ated fabric, this part consisting, essentia y, oflrolls for sustaining and guidingthe fabric, a heater the guided and a roller'or a rubber scraper, operating to level and smooth the coating as it is applied to the fabric.

The fifth element of the machine con tains compression rollers, the faces of which are covered with soft vulcanized rubber, which act to convey pressure to the rubber lying in the spaces between the fibers without, at the'same time, crushing the fibers of the threads at their points of intersection, crushing the fibers being the difficulty experienced when rollers having unyielding faces are employed for the purpose of compressing frictioned or coated fabrics,

The several parts of the machine are connected with a common driving means, the

object being to attain synchronism inall the movable elements, so that all parts of the fabric will have the same speed and not have any tendency to slip over the surface of the movable elements.

I have found that in handling rubber coated fabrics, frictional or static electricity is-often produced in such quantities as to cause ignition of the volatile solvents and the tendency to do this is more pronounced in the coating mechanism than anywhere else. Here the knife or steel scraper, usually employed for leveling the applied rubber coating, becomes so highly charged as to produce sparks which may ignite the as yet un-evaporated solvent that is present in the rubber. By substituting a roller or a rubber scraper, for a steel scraper, and by arranging all movable parts of the machine in such a way as to avoid friction, I produce no statical electricity whatever, and render the manufacture of rubber impregnated and coated fabrics entirely safe.

The fabric employedby me is one which contains threads composed of twisted strands and is preferably of the open mesh variety; The object being to afford room within the body of the fabric, that is to say,

within its interstices both inside and outside of the threads, for containing a relatively large body of rubber, which is in effeet, a continuation of the coating of rubber that is super-imposed upon the body ofthe fabric. This inclosed part of the rubber being inter-locked with the material portion of the fabric, is securely anchored to the fabric, thereby giving the whole fabrication a strength whlch it wouldnot otherwise possem. I

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, the mechanical part of my invention is fully illus-- trated with Similar numbers to indicate corresponding parts as follows:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of-my entire machine and Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the impregnating mechanisms showing the details thereof, and Fig. 4 is a plan view thereof.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the coating and the compressing devices and Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the compressing mechanism.

A (Fig. 1) is a preliminary drier containing a heating cylinder 1, over which a strip of fabric, as yet unimpregnated and uncoated, runs. This cylinder 1 is driven by the main shaft X of the machine through a worm and gear connection 2 and pulley and a belt connection 3;

The impregnating machine .B consists of a vat 12, having mounted therein, a'fluted roller 13 (Fig. 3) that is driven by a sprocket wheel 14, connected by a pulley and belt connection 15 (Fig. 1) and a worm and gear connection 16, to the driving shaft X.

The pinions or idlers, 17, are driven by the fluted roller 13. The cover of the vat has openings or slits for the passage of the fabric into and out of the machine and between these two slits the fabric extends sinuously between the flutes of the roller 13 and the teeth of the pinions or idlers 17. It will be observed that when the fluted rollers and pinions or idlers are rotating, these sinuous parts of the fabric will be bent back and .forth over the respective flutes and teeth,

and consequently the interstices will be -opened up on opposite sides,therebyadmitting the rubber solution which, flowing into and filling the interstices will be able to reach and enter the hollow tubular centers of the threads of the fabric.

This result cannot be obtained by pressure alone, for the viscosity of the rubber solution so impedes its flow, that even under a very great pressure, it will not invade ex-' tremely small capillary ducts of thekind found in a rubber coated textile fabric.

The coating machine D is provided with the usual guide rolls 31 and a heater 32. The coating material is applied at 33. The coating material is appliedspreferably by hand t the portion of the travel of the fabric marked 33 in the drawings, and for that fieaso'n the means for applying the coating material 'arenot illustrated, such means consisting preferably of the manual application by the hands of an attendant. A roller 34, or a rubber scraper, used as a substitute for the ordinary steel knife or scraper,

levels and smooths the newly applied coating of rubber.

The advantages of employing this roller or rubber. scraper 34 instead of a steel scraper, is that the roller or rubber scraper,

unlike the steel scraper, willnot, as heretofore explained, produce static electrical charges.

The compressing machine contains two rubber coated rollers 41 (Fig. 5) that are forced toward each other by springs 42, the

stiffness of which may be regulated by a hand screw 43. One of these rollers 41, is

driven by a worm and gear connection 44 adhesion of those surfaces.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: V

1. A rocess of manufacturing rubber coated fa rics consisting in passing the fabric through arubber solution so as to thoroughly impregnate the fabricwith rubber and then applying a coating of rubber to the surface of the fabric, leveling said coating and finally passing the fabric between rollers having yielding surfaces so as to secure density and homogeneity in the product.

2. A process of manufacturing rubber coated fabrics consistingjn passing the fabric through a rubber solution so as to thoroughly impregnate the fabric with rubber, heating the so impregnated fabric and then applying a coating of rubber to the surface of the same, leveling said coating and finally passing the fabric between rollers having yielding surfaces, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A process of manufacturing rubber. coated fabrics consisting in passing the fab ric through a rubber solution so as to thoroughly impregnate the fabric with rubber, then applying a coating of rubber to the surface of the fabric, leveling said coating by flexible scraping means, and finally passing the fabric between rollers having yielding surfaces, so as to secure density and homogeneity. g

- ISAAC S. MGGIEHAN.

Witnesses: v

J. E. COLEMAN,

E. ADELMAN. 

